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1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 - Sexual Sin · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: Hi, faith listeners, Welcome to the Bible Explained podcast. You'll
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Speaker 1: never guess, but I am drinking tea today. I am
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Speaker 1: back to tea just for today. I have a little
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Speaker 1: bit of a headache today, and sometimes when I drink
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Speaker 1: coffee it just makes it so much worse. But then again,
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Speaker 1: maybe I have the headache because I'm not drinking coffee.
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Speaker 1: I don't know. Now, the tea is pretty good. I'm
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Speaker 1: drinking that blueberry tea that I like once again, and yeah,
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Speaker 1: it's definitely not as satisfying as coffee, but it'll do.
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Speaker 1: It'll suffice for today. So grab your cup of tea
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Speaker 1: or your cup of coffee, whatever you prefer this morning,
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Speaker 1: and we're gonna read first Thessalonians, chapter four one through twelve.
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Speaker 1: And this is the portion of the letter that Paul
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Speaker 1: has in every letter that he writes, pretty much where
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Speaker 1: he tells the Thessalonians how they need to be living
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Speaker 1: the things they need to do in order to have
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Speaker 1: a God centered life, and most of it is regarding
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Speaker 1: sexual immorality. Actually, so we're going to get into that
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Speaker 1: topic today and I'll be reading this as I usually
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Speaker 1: do from the web, but grab the version of the
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Speaker 1: Bible that you prefer this morning. This is first Thessalonians
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Speaker 1: four one through twelve. Finally, then, brothers, we beg and
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Speaker 1: exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received
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Speaker 1: from us, how you ought to walk and to please God,
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Speaker 1: that you abound more and more. For you know what
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Speaker 1: instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this
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Speaker 1: is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain
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Speaker 1: from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how
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Speaker 1: to control his own body in sanctification and honor, not
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Speaker 1: in the passion of lust, even as the gentiles who
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Speaker 1: don't know God, that no one should take advantage of
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Speaker 1: and wrong a brother or sister in this matter, because
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Speaker 1: the Lord is an avenger in all these things. As
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Speaker 1: also we forewarned you and testified, for God called us
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Speaker 1: not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. Therefore, he who rejects
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Speaker 1: this doesn't reject man, but God, who has also given
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Speaker 1: his Holy Spirit to you. But concerning brotherly love, you
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Speaker 1: have no need that one would write to you, for you,
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Speaker 1: yourselves are taught by God to love one another. For
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Speaker 1: indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are
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Speaker 1: in Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound
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Speaker 1: more and more, and that you make it your ambition
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Speaker 1: to lead a quiet life, and to do your own
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Speaker 1: business and to work with your own hands, even as
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Speaker 1: we instructed you that you may walk properly toward those
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Speaker 1: who are outside and may have need of nothing. This
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Speaker 1: chapter starts off with Paul saying finally, then, brothers, which
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Speaker 1: means that Paul is getting to the end of his letter.
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Speaker 1: But that doesn't always mean that he's going to be
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Speaker 1: done quickly. As we found out in Philippians. Just because
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Speaker 1: Paul puts it finally in there does not mean he
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Speaker 1: is finished, but it means that he is about to
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Speaker 1: wrap up his letter. And so now we are moving
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Speaker 1: towards the final portions of First Thessalonians. So it says finally, then, brothers,
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Speaker 1: we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, meaning
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Speaker 1: we plead with you in the Lord Jesus, that you
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Speaker 1: received from us how you ought to walk and to
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Speaker 1: please God. That you abound more and more, meaning that
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Speaker 1: you abound more and more in Christ. You learn more
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Speaker 1: about Him and you start living more like Him. And
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Speaker 1: of course Paul goes into now how to live like
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Speaker 1: Jesus wants somebody to live. And this is something that
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Speaker 1: Paul does in every single one of his letters. He
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Speaker 1: has a portion where he tells people what they should
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Speaker 1: be doing and how to live better in Christ. And
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Speaker 1: I believe he was tailoring them also to the church
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Speaker 1: he was writing to. For example, when he talked to
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Speaker 1: the Colossians, you guys, remember the Colossian Church was having
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Speaker 1: some problems because they were incorporating angel worship into their
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Speaker 1: church services. When Paul talks to them about what they
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Speaker 1: should be doing, he specifically targets that. He says, don't
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Speaker 1: worship angels. Instead, understand who Jesus is and worship him only.
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Speaker 1: So in Colossians chapter three he talks about basically how
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Speaker 1: to do that. Then, if you go back to the
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Speaker 1: Philippian Church, you know, the Philippian Church was struggling with unity.
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Speaker 1: There's a lot of infighting going on in that church.
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Speaker 1: So when Paul talks to them about what they should
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Speaker 1: be doing to live more God honoring lives, he specifically
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Speaker 1: targets their disunity problem and he says, have peace in God,
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Speaker 1: and have peace with each other and rejoice in the Lord.
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Speaker 1: So whenever Paul gives a list of how these churches
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Speaker 1: should be living, I do believe he is targeting specific
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Speaker 1: problems that he's hearing about. And that's probably the case
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Speaker 1: here for the Thessalonians, because in verses two through eight,
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Speaker 1: Paul targets sexual immorality and how Christians need to be
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Speaker 1: living pure lives sexually for God. So he says in
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Speaker 1: verse two, for you know what instructions we gave you
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Speaker 1: through the Lord Jesus. He's like, Okay, you already know
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Speaker 1: the instructions. You should be living them already, but I
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Speaker 1: will re explain them for those of you who are not.
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Speaker 1: Verse three, For this is the will of God, your sanctification,
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Speaker 1: that you abstain from sexual immorality. Now, the Greek word
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Speaker 1: for sexual immorality would be pornea, and that word encompassed
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Speaker 1: all types of sexual sins. Any sexual activity outside of
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Speaker 1: marriage would be considered pornea. It's also, of course, where
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Speaker 1: we get our current word pornography from the word pornea
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Speaker 1: encompasses all types of sexual sin. This would include lust, adultery,
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Speaker 1: sex before marriage, sex outside of marriage, whatever that might
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Speaker 1: look like, prostitution. This would encompass any kind of sexual sin.
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Speaker 1: Paul says, in order to live the way God wants
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Speaker 1: you to live, you have to abstain from sexual immorality
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Speaker 1: verse four. That each one of you know how to
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Speaker 1: control his own body in sanctification and honor, not in
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Speaker 1: the past of lust as the gentiles who don't know God.
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Speaker 1: So right there, Paul targets the lust that might be
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Speaker 1: happening in the Thessalonian Church. Now, this would be something
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Speaker 1: very common that gentiles partook in in the days of Paul.
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Speaker 1: Gentile men, specifically Roman and Greek men, it was not
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Speaker 1: uncommon for them to have sexual encounters outside of marriage,
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Speaker 1: quite often, either through prostitution, whether it was just normal
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Speaker 1: prostitution or religious prostitution, or having mistresses or in a
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Speaker 1: lot of cases young boys that they would use for
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Speaker 1: their sexual gratification. This was something so common in Paul's day.
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Speaker 1: In fact, Nero, who I believe wasn't the caesar yet
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Speaker 1: when First Thessalonians was written, but he was the Caesar
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Speaker 1: during the time of Paul's imprisonment. Nero married a young boy.
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Speaker 1: He had like a wedding party and a celebration for
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Speaker 1: this event. He married a young boy. This was not
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Speaker 1: something uncommon in Paul's day. Paul was dealing actually with
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Speaker 1: a lot of the same type of sexual immorality we
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Speaker 1: see going on right now in today's culture. Roman and
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Speaker 1: Greek men and women were very sexually promiscuous during the
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Speaker 1: days of Paul and throughout all of time actually. But
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Speaker 1: Paul addresses this in the Thessalonian Church because he might
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Speaker 1: have heard that there was something going on that some
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Speaker 1: of the people might be falling back into these sins
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Speaker 1: that they had once left. And that goes to show you,
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Speaker 1: you know, Paul is addressing a problem in the church,
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Speaker 1: a problem with sexual sin, and a lot of times,
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Speaker 1: I think specifically with sexual sin, people who engage in
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Speaker 1: sexual sin almost think of themselves as irredeemable, that Jesus
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Speaker 1: could never love them, that God just hates them and
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Speaker 1: wants nothing to do with them because they fell into
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Speaker 1: some type of sexual sin. Just because you are saved
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Speaker 1: does not mean you aren't going to fail and you
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Speaker 1: aren't going to sin, but Jesus still loves you. I've
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Speaker 1: been watching the Chosen series with my husband again, and
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Speaker 1: I do in my qualms about the Chosen series, but overall,
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Speaker 1: I think it's a pretty good story. There is an
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Speaker 1: episode where Mary Magdalene falls back into her previous sins
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Speaker 1: because before she met Jesus, she had many demons inside
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Speaker 1: of her, and you know, she was going to the
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Speaker 1: bars all the time and carousing and doing all sorts
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Speaker 1: of crazy stuff. Well, after she's following Jesus, she falls
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Speaker 1: back into that sin, and she goes to a bar
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Speaker 1: and she gets drunk and she's gambling and doing things
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Speaker 1: she shouldn't be doing, and the next morning she gets
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Speaker 1: so discouraged she believes that Jesus could never love her again.
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Speaker 1: So she goes to Jesus in the show and she's
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Speaker 1: apologizing and crying and saying, Jesus, I am so sorry.
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Speaker 1: I can't imagine how you could ever love me again,
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Speaker 1: And the guy who plays Jesus says something along the
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Speaker 1: lines of, you know, if my grace to you just
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Speaker 1: disappeared after you sin one time, that wouldn't be true salvation.
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Speaker 1: And that's not a Bible verse or anything, but I
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Speaker 1: do think that that scene was a really good one
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Speaker 1: to have, that Jesus still loves you even after you sin,
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Speaker 1: and that his grace is so great and his salvation
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Speaker 1: to you is not going away even after you sin. Now,
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Speaker 1: of course, all that being said, you can't abuse God's grace.
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Speaker 1: That's what Paul talks about. Yes, God's grace is amazing,
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Speaker 1: it is great, but you can abuse it. And I
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Speaker 1: think that's what Paul is getting at here as well,
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Speaker 1: that some of these Thessalonians are falling back into this temptation,
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Speaker 1: this lust, this sexual sin that they once used to
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Speaker 1: do that they shouldn't do anymore. They are beginning to
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Speaker 1: abuse God's grace and they're hurting other people in the
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Speaker 1: process of all of this as well. That's what Paul
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Speaker 1: says in verse six. No one should take advantage of
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Speaker 1: and wrong a brother or sister in this matter, because
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Speaker 1: the Lord is an avenger in all these things. As
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Speaker 1: also we forewarned you and testified. So Paul gives a
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Speaker 1: pretty strong warning to the Thessalonians here. He says God
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Speaker 1: is an avenger in all of these things, because not
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Speaker 1: only is your sexual sin hurting you, but it's actually
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Speaker 1: hurting other people as well. You are hurting brothers and
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Speaker 1: sisters in Christ when you do these things. And you
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Speaker 1: might be like, well, Jen, how is sexual sin hurting
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Speaker 1: another person? So if it's consensual What about that is
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Speaker 1: hurting the other person? Well, think about it this way.
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Speaker 1: You know, I'm a youth leader and one of the
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Speaker 1: things that we tell the students is if you engage
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Speaker 1: in sexual sin, you are taking something very precious away
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Speaker 1: from the person that you are going to marry. You
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Speaker 1: are hurting your future spouse for a momentary, fleeting feeling,
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Speaker 1: and you are causing damage to somebody in the future.
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Speaker 1: And not only that, the person that you are sinning with,
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Speaker 1: you're doing that to them as well. You are taking
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Speaker 1: something that does not belong to you. You are taking
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Speaker 1: something away from the person they are going to marry.
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Speaker 1: You are hurting their future spouse. So that's one way
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Speaker 1: you are hurting a fellow brother or sister. You might
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Speaker 1: not be realizing you're hurting anybody at that moment, but
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Speaker 1: you are actually hurting somebody down the line. But not
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Speaker 1: to mention, if you are a Christian, you're hurting yourself too.
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Speaker 1: That's what Paul goes on to say here verse seven.
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Speaker 1: God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: he who rejects this doesn't reject a man, but God,
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Speaker 1: who has also given us his Holy spirit. To you.
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Speaker 1: And this ties in perfectly with First Corinthians, Chapter six,
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Speaker 1: Verses seventeen through twenty. He who is joined to the
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Speaker 1: Lord is one spirit flee sexual immorality. Every sin that
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Speaker 1: a man does is outside the body. But he who
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Speaker 1: commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or don't
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Speaker 1: you know that your body is a temple of the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God.
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Speaker 1: You are not your own, for you are bought with
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Speaker 1: a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in
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Speaker 1: your spirit, which are God's. So the one thing that
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Speaker 1: is different about sexual sin is compared to other sins,
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Speaker 1: is that other sins are outside the body. But when
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Speaker 1: you sin sexually, you are actually sinning against your own body.
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Speaker 1: And this is especially egregious if you have the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit living inside of you. Because the Holy Spirit has
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Speaker 1: been joined with you, he now resides within you. You know,
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Speaker 1: the body is the temple. We've been talking a lot
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Speaker 1: about the temple on the Old Testament side of stuff.
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Speaker 1: The temple was where God's spirit was supposed to live. Now,
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Speaker 1: of course, after Jesus came and fulfilled everything and made
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Speaker 1: things different, the Holy Spirit no longer lives inside of
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Speaker 1: the Temple, and that was signified, of course, with the
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Speaker 1: tearing of the curtain in the Temple, the big thick
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Speaker 1: curtain that was supposed to hide the Holy Spirit tore
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Speaker 1: completely in half, and then after that the Temple was
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Speaker 1: destroyed not many years later. So the Holy Spirit no
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Speaker 1: longer lives in the Temple, but he resides in each
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Speaker 1: of his followers. So when you commit a sexual sin,
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Speaker 1: you are sinning against your own body, and you are
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Speaker 1: making the Holy Spirit's home very uncomfortable. Our bodies are
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Speaker 1: supposed to be temples, They are supposed to be kept
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Speaker 1: well for the Holy Spirit. If we claim to be
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Speaker 1: Jesus followers, if we claim to have the Holy Spirit
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Speaker 1: inside of us, we should not be committing these sexual sins. Now,
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Speaker 1: there is grace for somebody who commits those sins. But
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Speaker 1: if it's something habitual that a Christian keeps doing over
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Speaker 1: and over and over again with no care, then that's
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Speaker 1: when Paul says, going back to first Thessalonians four, that
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Speaker 1: God is an avenger of all these things, and that
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Speaker 1: anybody who rejects this message is not rejecting. Paul is
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Speaker 1: not rejecting. Man is not rejecting me for you know,
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Speaker 1: stating it on this podcast, But you're rejecting God and
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit who was given to you. So Christians
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Speaker 1: cannot keep sinning in sexual ways over and over and
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Speaker 1: over again if you expect to have a healthy relationship
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Speaker 1: with the Holy Spirit. Now, all that being said, it
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Speaker 1: does not say that the Holy Spirit leaves the person
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Speaker 1: who is sinning sexually. It just says that person is
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Speaker 1: rejecting the Holy Spirit, but does not say that the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit leaves. Here's what it says. Therefore, he who
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Speaker 1: rejects this doesn't reject man, but God, who has also
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Speaker 1: given his Holy Spirit to you. Once the Holy Spirit
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Speaker 1: is given to you, the Holy Spirit is not going away.
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Speaker 1: In fact, it says in Hebrews that nobody can pluck
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Speaker 1: us out of God's hand like once He has saved us.
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Speaker 1: Once we have the Holy Spirit, we are saved by
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Speaker 1: God and nothing can change that, not our sins, not
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Speaker 1: anything else. However, if we keep sinning sexually, that is
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Speaker 1: not going to be good for us in the end.
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Speaker 1: Here's what Verse Corinthians three ten through seventeen says. According
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Speaker 1: to the grace of God which was given to me
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Speaker 1: as a wise master builder. I laid a foundation, and
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Speaker 1: another builds on it. This is Paul talking, of course.
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Speaker 1: But let each man be careful how he builds on it.
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Speaker 1: For no one can lay any other foundation than that
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Speaker 1: which has already been laid, which is Jesus Christ. But
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Speaker 1: if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood,
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Speaker 1: hay or straw, each man's work will be revealed for
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Speaker 1: the day he will declare it, meaning the judgment day
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Speaker 1: of Christ. The day will declare it because it is
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Speaker 1: revealed in fire, and the fire itself will test what
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Speaker 1: sort of work each man's work is. If any man's
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Speaker 1: work remains, which he built on it, he will receive
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Speaker 1: a reward. If any man's work is burned, he will
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Speaker 1: suffer loss, but he himself will be saved. But as
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Speaker 1: through fire, don't you know that you are God's temple,
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Speaker 1: and that God's Spirit lives in you. If anyone destroys
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Speaker 1: God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy,
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Speaker 1: which you are, So there you go. In scripture, it
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Speaker 1: never says that once somebody has the Holy Spirit, the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit leaves, even if you are sinning. It never
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Speaker 1: says that but there is serious consequences for the person
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Speaker 1: who rejects the Holy Spirit, for the person who mistreats, misuses,
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Speaker 1: or destroys the temple that God gave them, the temple
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Speaker 1: that the Holy Spirit is living in. So we have
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Speaker 1: to be very careful because on the Judgment Day of Christ,
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Speaker 1: we will stand before God. We are going to give
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Speaker 1: an account for every single thing that we said and did.
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Speaker 1: We are going to give an account to God. And
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Speaker 1: it does say that fire is going to be there,
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Speaker 1: and I don't know what this fire is, but it
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Speaker 1: does not sound fun. It sounds terrifying. So we have
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Speaker 1: to be very careful, you know. And yes, God's grace
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Speaker 1: is great. Just because you sin sexually or any other
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Speaker 1: way does not mean that you lose your salvation, does
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Speaker 1: not mean that the Holy Spirit is no longer in you.
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Speaker 1: But as Christians, we need to do our best to
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Speaker 1: turn away from those sins and not abuse God's grace.
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Speaker 1: And also we need to do our best to make
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Speaker 1: sure that the Holy Spirit has a comfortable place to live,
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Speaker 1: not like the Old Testament times when the Holy Spirit's
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Speaker 1: temple was constantly being destroyed and desecrated, and all these
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Speaker 1: people were going in there and sinning and doing all
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Speaker 1: sorts of crazy stuff. We need to do the opposite
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Speaker 1: of that. We have been given a fantastic gift and
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Speaker 1: a responsibility with that gift, and we should not shirk
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Speaker 1: that responsibility. So if you are sinning sexually right now,
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Speaker 1: whether it's through pornography or sex outside of marriage, or
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Speaker 1: anything along those lines, I would encourage you to confess
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Speaker 1: those sins to God, to pray, to ask God to
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Speaker 1: help you overcome this addiction or this problem that you
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Speaker 1: might have. Get plugged into a low church, find a
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Speaker 1: pastor or an associate pastor who you can talk to
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Speaker 1: about these things. Get an accountability partner if you don't
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Speaker 1: have one, and be prayerful, be mindful, say no when
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Speaker 1: the urge pops up. And I can tell you personally
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Speaker 1: from somebody who struggled with sexual sin. You guys know
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Speaker 1: my story. The more you practice saying no, the easier
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Speaker 1: it gets. You know, I struggled for a really long
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Speaker 1: time with homosexuality, and I can tell you guys now
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Speaker 1: that things do get easier. It was a big struggle
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Speaker 1: for a very long time where even when I would
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Speaker 1: say no, I still had those same feelings. I've still
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Speaker 1: attracted to the same sex, and I thought there was
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Speaker 1: something seriously wrong with me. I'm like, you know, I'm
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Speaker 1: a Christian. I should not be having these feelings. But
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Speaker 1: the more you practice saying no, I can honestly tell
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Speaker 1: you things get so much easier. And I'm not going
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Speaker 1: to lie to myself and say that those feelings might
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Speaker 1: not pop back up, because they do on occasion, but
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Speaker 1: when you do and you say no to them, it
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Speaker 1: really does get easier. That's why Paul says right here
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Speaker 1: in verse four, know how to control your own body
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Speaker 1: in sanctification and honor. And one of the ways Paul
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Speaker 1: talks about controlling your own body is by getting married.
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Speaker 1: And I can tell you that has been very beneficial
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Speaker 1: for me personally. I have a fantastic husband who was
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Speaker 1: so kind to me. Even though he didn't know about
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Speaker 1: any of these struggles that I had for a really
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Speaker 1: long time, he was so kind to me. When I
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Speaker 1: finally told him about it. He was hurt, as any
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Speaker 1: spouse would be when you reveal something like that. He
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Speaker 1: was hurt, but he stood by my side and he
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Speaker 1: helped me through all of it. And I couldn't be
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Speaker 1: more thankful for the husband that God gave me, so really,
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Speaker 1: you know, my story is kind of proof that what
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Speaker 1: Paul talks about works, that sexual immorality is not as
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Speaker 1: much of a struggle when you have a spouse who
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Speaker 1: is on your side, who is there willing to help you,
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Speaker 1: and you're helping them as well learn to control their bodies.
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Speaker 1: So you guys are doing this together and it makes
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Speaker 1: things much much easier. But moving forward, in verse nine,
21:21
Speaker 1: Paul drastically changes the subject. He goes from sexual immorality
21:25
Speaker 1: to brotherly love. He says, concerning brotherly love, you have
21:31
Speaker 1: no need that one write to you, for you, yourselves
21:34
Speaker 1: are taught by God to love one another. For indeed
21:38
Speaker 1: you do toward all the brothers who are in Macedonia.
21:41
Speaker 1: But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more,
21:44
Speaker 1: in other words, to make your love grow even more.
21:46
Speaker 1: But Paul's like, I shouldn't even have to write to
21:48
Speaker 1: you guys about this, because you already know, now that
21:52
Speaker 1: you've become Christians, you already know that you should love
21:55
Speaker 1: your brothers and sisters. And the reason you know this
21:59
Speaker 1: is because the Holy Spirit is inside of you and
22:02
Speaker 1: He is compelling you to do that you know, I
22:05
Speaker 1: can say in my own story, I am not the
22:07
Speaker 1: most loving person. I have serious road rage, serious anger
22:12
Speaker 1: towards people. A lot of times, I hold grudges. I'm
22:15
Speaker 1: not very forgiving, and apparently this episode is just Jen
22:19
Speaker 1: airing her dirty laundry episode. I'm not the most loving.
22:24
Speaker 1: But once I started living the Christian life back in
22:29
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, once I got serious about my faith, I
22:32
Speaker 1: have become more loving towards people. I want to serve
22:36
Speaker 1: more often. I just want to meet people more often.
22:41
Speaker 1: I'm naturally somebody that wants to have nothing to do
22:44
Speaker 1: with people, but I like to host people in my house.
22:47
Speaker 1: Now this is not me, this is not my natural
22:51
Speaker 1: reaction towards others. But this is what God has been
22:55
Speaker 1: doing in my life. He has been showing me how
22:58
Speaker 1: to love people more often. And that's why Paul says,
23:00
Speaker 1: you know, you do not have to hear about this
23:03
Speaker 1: from me. You already know that the Holy Spirit is
23:06
Speaker 1: compelling you to love other people. So I pray and
23:09
Speaker 1: ask that you abound in that love more and more,
23:13
Speaker 1: not even just to your brothers and sisters in Christ,
23:17
Speaker 1: but also to those who are outside the faith, which
23:20
Speaker 1: is what Paul said a couple chapters ago in First Thessalonians,
23:24
Speaker 1: he wants the Thessalonians to learn to love everybody in
23:28
Speaker 1: the faith and outside the faith. For indeed you do
23:32
Speaker 1: love the brothers who are in Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers,
23:36
Speaker 1: that you abound more and more, and that you make
23:38
Speaker 1: it your ambition to lead a quiet life and to
23:42
Speaker 1: do your own business and to work with your own hands,
23:45
Speaker 1: even as we instructed you. And he might be like,
23:48
Speaker 1: what does that have to do with love, you know,
23:50
Speaker 1: leading a quiet life, doing your own business, working with
23:53
Speaker 1: your hands. Well, when Paul talks about leading a quiet life,
23:58
Speaker 1: he is saying that Chris need to be peaceful, quiet
24:03
Speaker 1: individuals who are not gossiping, who are not getting up
24:06
Speaker 1: into other people's businesses, but instead focusing on themselves, focusing
24:12
Speaker 1: on their own business and their own work. And he
24:16
Speaker 1: also tells them to work with their own hands, even
24:21
Speaker 1: as we instructed you that you may walk properly toward
24:24
Speaker 1: those who are outside and may have need of nothing.
24:28
Speaker 1: This letter was written in approximately eighty forty five, where
24:35
Speaker 1: slavery was half of the population of Rome. Slaves were
24:42
Speaker 1: everywhere and it was a very common belief among the
24:45
Speaker 1: elite that if they did any physical labor whatsoever, that
24:49
Speaker 1: that was something shameful and disgusting, and so they bought
24:53
Speaker 1: slaves and forced the slaves to do labor for them.
24:58
Speaker 1: And Paul's telling them, do your own work. Stop buying
25:04
Speaker 1: human beings like commodity to do it for you. Do
25:08
Speaker 1: your own work. It is not a shameful thing. Do
25:12
Speaker 1: it just like I did when I was living among you,
25:15
Speaker 1: and I was providing for myself the entire time. And
25:19
Speaker 1: by doing this, you are not going to buy slaves.
25:22
Speaker 1: You're going to free slaves, and you are not going
25:25
Speaker 1: to implicate other people to do your work, not acting entitled,
25:32
Speaker 1: not expecting from other people to give you free things,
25:36
Speaker 1: but you will be providing for yourself. You are going
25:39
Speaker 1: to live peaceably among other people, among those on the
25:43
Speaker 1: outside of the church, so that everybody can see your
25:47
Speaker 1: behavior and how you are different, how the church is different.
25:50
Speaker 1: You're providing for yourselves. You're not purchasing slaves, you're not
25:55
Speaker 1: being lazy, you're not expecting things from other people or
25:59
Speaker 1: being entitled, but you're just living how God wants you
26:03
Speaker 1: to live. And by doing that, you are loving the
26:07
Speaker 1: people who are around you. Well, faithful listeners, I hope
26:14
Speaker 1: you enjoyed today's episode, And on Thursday, we're finally going
26:17
Speaker 1: to get into Jesus's Second Coming. I know I've been
26:21
Speaker 1: talking a lot about that, kind of getting you guys excited,
26:24
Speaker 1: but on Thursday, it's going to be the day where
26:25
Speaker 1: we talk about the second Coming of Jesus and what
26:28
Speaker 1: Paul has to say about It's in First Thessalonians four.
26:32
Speaker 1: So make sure to tune back in for Thursday's episode
26:34
Speaker 1: because I do think you're gonna like it. But faithful listeners,
26:36
Speaker 1: I will see all of you guys hopefully tomorrow because
26:39
Speaker 1: we'll be in First Chronicles, finishing up that book actually,
26:42
Speaker 1: and moving very soon into season ten next week actually,
26:46
Speaker 1: so I'm excited for all of that. Anyway, Guys, if
26:48
Speaker 1: you have any questions whatsoever, check out the links listed
26:51
Speaker 1: in the description of this episode. You're going to find
26:53
Speaker 1: more information about the podcast. You're going to find my
26:55
Speaker 1: statement of faith. You'll also find other things that I
26:58
Speaker 1: do for free other than the So I hope that
27:01
Speaker 1: you check all of those links out, Faithful listeners, have
27:03
Speaker 1: a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. Happy listening
27:07
Speaker 1: and God bless